


"Perfection is for the unhappy," we all say

by piltovers_finest



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Alternative realities, Fix-It, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, the family man fanfic that nobody asked for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-19 17:03:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15514449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piltovers_finest/pseuds/piltovers_finest
Summary: I'm close enough to happy to say that I won't throw my memories away.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rating chosen because of some words that aren't E for Everyone.
> 
> Even though these are Jayce and Viktor and their tragedy is one for the ages, the tone of this isn't gonna be too dramatic.
> 
> Characters that have only been mentioned in passing are not tagged.

Ekko has proven to be more dangerous than expected but then again Viktor miscalculated how much of a threat he'd be. No matter how young, a time-bending chem punk of sorts can be trouble. No, scratch that. Especially when young, a time-bending chem punk of sorts can be trouble. Which he should've taken into account, but he hadn't and hence he's ended up perched atop one of the tallest laboratories down in the Sump with no way to get down and Ekko smirking at him from the terrace of the adjacent building.

"Don't you think you're a bit too old for this?" Ekko says, and Viktor keeps the impulse to make a crude, childish, impression of him to himself. "I mean, you do sound like a rickety engine but man, that was way too easy even for me."

"I know where you got that crystal from," he says instead, but Ekko only blows a raspberry and laughs.

"Yeah? Surprise me, then!"

"My lab. It's unstable. Is it secured properly?"

"Is it secured properly, he says. I got it out of your demolished laboratory, did you secure it properly?"

"I would have if some idiot with a big hammer hadn't barged in unannounced," Viktor is getting very tired of this. The memory isn't a good one, to begin with, and this child is way too cheeky. He does like him, as he tends to do anything with as much tenacity as Ekko is showing, but he has been trying to fight a time-bender for way too long and it's not a fun experience.

Surprisingly enough, though, Jayce's mention makes Ekko pause and frown. He stares at Viktor with his arms crossed, leaning so close to the edge that Viktor is getting antsy at the idea of him falling down to his death.

"I know that idiot. He wanted to reverse engineer my things but like, don't ask for a favor and then call someone a thief, dude," yes that sounds like an incredibly Jayce thing to do. Viktor snorts and Ekko's lips twitch into a good-natured smile. "So I take it the crystal, that is his, was stolen by you?"

"Yes."

"Thanks for that, then. Still don't know what you want, really? The crystal? I ain't gonna give it up," he shrugs and Viktor's third mechanical arm twitches as if trying to do the same.

"I only wanted to talk when you attacked me."

"Someone told you you look a wee bit like a chem-baron with the cape and all? Like, I don't know. Lose a bit of the flare, I didn't even recognize you in the dark."

"You did recognize me at some point then, and kept on fighting."

"You've got a name and there are some stories that go with it."

Viktor is aware and despises it. "Fine. I don't want to harm you. Learn from you, in any case, teach you what I know if you are willing to learn. Nothing else."

Ekko stares at him for a beat, eyes narrowed and mouth pressed into a thin line, and then he starts laughing like Viktor has never heard anyone laugh in his life. Again, he's slightly alarmed at the possibility of the kid falling to his death but he calms down enough to catch his breath and whistle.

"You're funnier than the other one, I'll give you that," Ekko says, and Viktor huffs. "I don't have time to learn, I'm a busy man."

The way he says it, grabbing the straps of his overalls with a wide smile, is charming in its naive arrogance. Although Viktor can't really criticize Ekko's talent, seen as he's currently trapped and with no follow-up plan. If anything, though, he's amused. He can't find it in himself to be annoyed at Ekko for defending himself, nor can he in good conscience force him to take a master he doesn't think he needs. If in time Ekko decides that Viktor does have something to teach him after all, there he'll be. If he doesn't, there he'll be. Not much of a choice over that one.

"Fine, I'll leave you alone. But you still have to secure that crystal," he answers, and Ekko rolls his eyes and makes a yapping motion with his hand.

"Yeah, yeah. Secure the crystal, don't install lasers into your own body, stay out of chem-barons' way, wash your hands, don't try to jump from here to that building."

Before he has time to process what Ekko has said, or to properly react to it, he's already jumped and Viktor stares in horror as he loses his footing on the edge of the roof.

He then makes a big, stupid, mistake.

Viktor tries to catch Ekko as he curses and yanks a chain attached to his invention while he falls, stumbling off the roof and down in what he expected to be Ekko himself to at least try to shield him from the fall. Instead he finds nothing but blue light, a wild breeze, the sound of what appears to be a million engines revving, ozone, and then nothing.

-x-

A ray of sunlight strikes him across the face and Viktor snuzzles into the pillow grumbling. He squeezes his eyes tightly shut, his head already threatening to split open, and it takes a second for him to register that down in Zaun sunlight waking him up has never really been an issue. He decides to stay as flat as he can, laying very still, just in case his mind is playing tricks on him.

"You're still here?" Jayce says from somewhere in the room, and he freezes. "Hello? I know you are awake. What are you doing?"

Viktor isn't in the mood for a dream, or a nightmare as he should take this as, today. Not with how much his head hurts, not with how sore he feels. No thanks.  Jayce, who won't quit ever no matter how imaginary, seems to be sitting down on the edge of the bed and this is already going very wrong. The voices he imagines shouldn't have a physical weight, after all.

"Are you still mad about last night? 'Cause I sure didn't know that fucking Pididly would be there," Viktor grumbles at the mention of Stanwick, unable not to and seeing no reason to contain it when he's having an awfully vivid dream, and Jayce snorts. "Yeah. You're gonna be late, though."

He burrows farther down under the sheets with a sigh. As far as hallucinations go this one is a tad too domestic for his liking and maybe he should try to wake up, get on with his day and forget that Jayce exists. Because that is a thing that he can do, that he's in fact an expert at, and that he will do.

But when he capitulates and lifts his head, then sits up groaning and blinks at the room expecting the dull green tones of Zaun to surround him, he finds gold and blue and Jayce still sitting on the edge of the bed. He looks off, and Viktor realizes that it isn't only because he's physically somewhat different but because his expression is open, unguarded.

"What are you doing in my room?" he croaks, tongue heavy in his mouth, and Jayce falls back into the bed with his arms open and a long-suffering sigh.

"Fine, if you're going to be an asshole about it suit yourself," he waves vaguely with a hand patting Viktor's back with the other and he tenses, looking frantically around the room to find something, anything, that's familiar at all. "I'm sorry about the whole Pididly debacle but it wasn't my fault."

He looks down at his own body, trying to reign his panic in by having at least one constant to ground him, and finds himself staring at his naked torso and his arms. Which should be impossible. It's all flesh and bone and he peaks under the sheets to find that he's thankfully not fully naked but fully and startlingly human.

"What am I doing here?" it's the most stupid question he could have asked, he realizes, but he's half dazed and somewhat proud of himself for being able to control his breathing.

"Making us both lose the entire morning and possibly our jobs, I think," Jayce answers, and Viktor closes his eyes and rubs his hands over his face. His fleshy hands. Human hands.

Something has gone horribly wrong. He can feel his throat closing up but is stubborn enough to try and take a hold of his emotions. Jayce's hand, still a solid weight on his back, is not helping.

This is not his room and not his laboratory. Or, at least, not the room he knows. It's full of things he recognizes as with the potential to be his, and things that are almost certainly Jayce's. There are pictures too, and he stares at the only one that he recognizes and remembers having taken back when they were students while he tries to breathe evenly. They look young, hopeful, full of an energy that Viktor assumes long lost.

The memories aren't any better than his current reality, however, and he turns away from the picture with a grimace.

"Wow looking fresh up there. Listen, are you okay? It's odd enough for you to sleep in, I don't even know when was the last time you woke up asking about your purpose in life."

The worry in Jayce's voice makes Viktor's breath stutter and he suppresses a curse. 

"I'm just...I'm fine. I'm okay. Have a headache, is all," Jayce groans as he sits up, then sighs and leans against Viktor's back. "Don't you have to get to work too?"

"Let me be for five seconds," when Jayce kisses the nape of his neck, Viktor almost kicks him and jumps out of bed in shock. He tenses, instead, clenching his jaw to keep the myriad of questions popping around his head from spilling out. "Sure you're not mad?"

Viktor closes his eyes and exhales. Slowly. Inhales.

"I'm not mad. Tired. But not mad," there's a vague feeling of longing in Viktor's chest that keeps growing and growing, has been doing so quietly since he first saw Jayce after waking up, a melancholic grief that is unraveling and that he isn't sure he'll be able to stop if it reaches its peak. When Jayce kisses his neck again before sighing, leaning back and standing, it almost tips over and spills.

He looks at Jayce as he stretches and yawns scratching his belly over his vest and it itches under his skin.

"Okay then, I'm leaving. Some of us do have work to do, as you so love to point out, and are already way too late," Jayce stands in front of Viktor and bends at the waist, kissing him so briefly that he has no time to react before the touch is gone. "You should leave soon too."

He straightens and struts out of the room and Viktor stares at the closed door until it all catches up to him. The sorrow, the longing, the nostalgia, the confusion, the anger, the wonder, the fear.

Enough. Pondering on how to deal with the onslaught of feelings is only going to help so much and that's a line of action that seems depleted. The only option left for him is to endure them, as bleak as that particular thought is. From them on, it doesn't become easier but it does turn out to be a rather thoughtless process. Stumble out of bed, try doors until he finds the bathroom, drag his oddly human body into the shower and figure out where his clothing might be in that bedroom. It's a mechanical process and Viktor is thankful for that, sitting at the edge of the bed but at least properly dressed and clean.

Now that he's collected himself a bit he can try to piece together this world he's been dropped in. Or at least the room he's at. It's clean enough, everything seems to be in place, and there are way more pictures than Viktor had first noticed. He stands and inspects them carefully, one by one, learning as much as he can from what he can see until he finds one, sitting on what appears to be Jayce's nightstand, depicting both of them and Blitzcrank.

Or a version of Blitzcrank that he has never seen before. It's still golden, round and kind of mismatched but there's an intricate pattern of lines etched all along its chassis. Its core shines blue and its eyes are both the same size, no spikes to be seen. The design is streamlined, more polished, and he realizes with a pang of horror that it's a blend of his and Jayce's styles. Practical yet elegant. Blitzcrank seems to be waving with one hand, Viktor beaming by his right with Jayce's arm around his shoulder. Jayce is smiling too but he isn't looking up front, he's looking at Viktor. So this is it, a universe in which they didn't turn on each other? They worked together. They thrived.

And judging by all the pictures he's seen, they're happy.

Overwhelmed, he sits back on the edge of the bed and buries his face in his hand as he takes a deep breath. What has happened for him to be here, tortured by what he assumes is a glimpse of a future that has been denied to him and that he doesn't know when will end? Is he intruding into another Viktor's life, taking it away? Where is the Viktor that lives there, with Jayce? Is his consciousness in his own body? What are the rules to this, if there are any, and how is it even possible to begin with?

Then it flashes, quicksilver fast through his mind, a blue light and the smell of ozone.

Ekko.

-x-

Looking around the house can only give him so much information and once he's done exploring some rooms he doesn't feel like he knows enough to navigate this universe comfortably but it will have to do. At least he knows what this version of him does for a living, although discovering that he works under Pididly in the academy did make his stomach turn unpleasantly. Jayce has his own workshop, somewhere unknown to him. Being that the house can't offer more, besides grim reminders of a life shared with Jayce that isn't his, he leaves in Ekko's pursuit.

If he does, in fact, exist in this reality and bends time too then it should be fairly easy. Information travels fast and he knows how to traverse Zaun, yet he doesn't know how much things have changed nor in which way.

"What are you doing here?" asks someone, by his left, and Viktor startles and looks their way. A woman with long, bright, pink hair stares at him with her eyebrows raised. He knows her, she lived in Zaun for a while in his own reality. Vi's lost the gauntlets in this one. "Don't you have meetings to attend or some shit like that?"

Does he? Probably, but she doesn't need to know. "Not today, no."

"Okay? Why are you so tense? And what is up with your hair? Hadn't seen it that wild since we were like...twenty-five, maybe."

"I'm just...tired. And nostalgic," she purses her lips and Viktor is about to elaborate, make more excuses up, but she shrugs.

"Yeah, it be like that sometimes. Does Jayce know you're skipping? You can't pass a lie through this, baby."

Vi winks. Viktor tries to laugh and it comes out like a weird cough.

"He does not. I have things to do that he mustn't find out about."

"Nasty. Can I help? Is it about that thing you guys do sometimes? The dinner party, Jayce has some fancy name for it."

Viktor has no idea what she's talking about and he hopes it doesn't show. But maybe she's still a cop and knows something that might be useful.

"Yes. I'm actually looking for...a friend that will help too. Ekko? Know him?"

Then Vi starts laughing, bending over her knees and clutching Viktor's shoulder, and Viktor's left speechless until she stops to breathe, looks up, and leans into him with a frown.

"Wait, you ain't joking?"

"I...am?"

"Right. You got me worried for a second there, like wow. Forgetting about my dearest little brother, fucking rude. Sure you're okay?"

She leans back but there's still a glint in her eye, something clever that unnerves him, and Viktor gapes at her trying to come up with an answer that would be convincing enough.

"I'm...having  rough day, sorry. Stanwick got on my nerves last night and I've been distracted."

Viktor has the feeling that Vi hasn't bought that for a second, but she hums and pats his back hard enough to make him stumble anyway.

"Well, as long as you don't get any worse. Try not to worry Ekko, though, you're his favorite uncle."

"Not much of a feat considering that Jayce is the other option," is surprisingly easy to say, rolls right off his tongue, and Vi glances at him under her fringe and smirks.

"You said it, not me."

She guides him to a plaza in the middle of Piltover that Viktor doesn't reckon exists in his own universe. It's discreet, full of trees, oddly devoid of gold yet surrounded by shimmering golden buildings at all sides. Viktor likes it, if only for how dissonant it feels. There are children playing around and some of them gather around a taller one that Viktor recognizes as Ekko despite the changes. He, for starters, doesn't show the signs of ever having being a sumpsniper. His frame is fuller, his features less sharp around the edges, has kept the mohawk but his way of moving shows less caution. Seems happy, too.

"Hey Ekko, Viktor wants to talk to you," Vi says, and Ekko turns away from the kids with an easy smile.

"Yeah, sure. What do you want, man?"

"In private, if possible."

"Mhkay, I'll take 'em," Vi shrugs, gathers the kids around her, and starts jogging. They follow her and Ekko and Viktor are left alone. The second they leave, Ekko turns to look at Viktor with a frown.

"What have you done? There's a...I don't even know how to say it. A time pull or something on you."

Viktor blinks down at him, puzzled. Time and space are not his areas of expertise, there's not much for him to say or understand, so he says what feels coherent right then. "What do you mean?"

"Yeah, like...there's this force, you know? And I can feel it pulling on you. It's so strong too."

"How do you know?"

Ekko shrugs, looking troubled. "I have no idea, actually. I just do. What is it?"

Viktor sighs. "How familiar are you with time and space matters?"

"Very? Why are you asking? You taught me half of what I know," Ekko's frown deepens and he takes a cautious step back that Viktor won't hold against him. As far as he knows, Ekko is facing a man that looks like someone he knows but behaves like a stranger and is, apparently, being pulled by time. Whatever that means.

He looks at where Vi's playing with the kids, far enough for her to remain oblivious to what they're talking about, and takes a deep breath.

"This is going to be hard to believe, I am aware, but I assure you that I am as confused as you are going to be," Viktor starts, voice almost a whisper, and Ekko hums with a nod but doesn't come any closer. "I might have been pulled into this universe from another one."

It sounds ridiculous, even the more so when said out loud, but Ekko doesn't even flinch. He merely looks up at Viktor for a minute, eyes searching, and once he's found what he's looking for takes a step forward and gestures with his hand.

"Go on."

"I met you there. I won't bore you with pointless details, you only need to know that the you that lives there invented a machine that can turn back time for a few seconds," Ekko opens his mouth, eyes wide, and Viktor raises a hand before he can speak. Questions later. Though he's not sure he'll be able to answer any of them. "I got caught in the...trail, maybe? I suppose that's what it was. I got caught in the trail it left when you used it and appeared here."

He waits. Ekko whistles.

"What the fuck," Viktor doesn't have the heart to chastise him for his language after what he's heard. "I mean I kind of believe you, knowing what I know and like...this Viktor wouldn't make that up. But what? How? And you're alive? You should be dead. Not that I want you dead but...where's our Viktor, then?"

Viktor, as much as it pains him to do, can only shrug. "I don't know. Figured you'd know better if you resembled your other universe's self here."

"Do I?"

"Do you what."

"Resemble him," the question was unavoidable, he guesses. Viktor himself is curious regarding how his own self behaves in this universe. And as far as he's aware he isn't getting out of there just yet so it won't do any harm to indulge Ekko.

"In some ways, yes. You have both studied time, but he's had a rougher life. Was a sumpsniper for most of his life, if I'm not mistaken. I've only met him recently. Same hair."

Ekko flashes him a smirk and he does look almost exactly like his counterpart. The slight disconnection would be worse for Viktor if he had known Ekko longer. Then his smile dissolves and he looks up at Viktor with unexpected concern.

"Does Jayce know?"

Viktor dodges his eyes, unsure what to expect from telling him the truth but out of other options.

"He doesn't, I don't think he should either."

Ekko nods. "Right. Yeah. Time is pulling you, anyway. It's...shit, it's hard to put it into words. It's like it wants you back, so it'll keep on tugging until you go. I can try and see how long it'll take but," he shrugs and Viktor can almost predict what he's going to say. "You might be gone by the time calculations are done and the pull is like crazy strong."

"Are you positive that it's a temporal matter?"

Ekko snorts. "Well yeah. It's temporal alright."

"You know what I mean."

"Seems to be. It doesn't want you here, that's for sure."

"Good. That's...that is good. Thank you," Ekko slaps him in the back, like Vi did only less aggressive, and nudges his arm with his elbow. Viktor tries to smile, but isn't sure how successful he is. "You're the only one who knows I'm not...from here. Can you keep it from the rest?"

"Sure. Gotta get back to the kids now, tho," he trots to were Vi is and when he looks back Viktor gets that he's expecting him to follow so he does. Vi smiles at them, open and carefree, and Viktor wonders how many more friends this Viktor has.

"You done? Can Ekko tell me your nasty secrets now?"

Ekko grimaces. "No. And I don't wanna know about those," Vi cackles, and Viktor clears his throat. She looks at him and realization seems to dawn on her.

"Oh shit you told me you needed to check on Blitzcrank today. Fuck, I forgot," she pinches Ekko's cheek, sticks her tongue out to him, and grabs Viktor's arm. Viktor is powerless to stop her, he suspects, and he does want to see Blitzcrank. The Viktor here might have friends, but Blitzcrank's the only one he has and he wants to visit him, if only to see how different he is with his own eyes. "Smell ya later, loser."

Ekko flips her off, but she's already dragging Viktor away.

Along the way, he can see that Piltover is changed ever so subtly in this reality. It's still highly ornate and irritating in its flamboyancy but there are more practical parts to it that he doesn't remember being in his own world. There are more plazas, full of trees, and the closer they get to Zaun's elevator the more small buildings he can see that are almost zaunite in nature. It looks too much like a ghetto for his liking. He stops in front of one of the houses and Vi looks at him biting her bottom lip.

"Oh, yeah. These things. Pididly didn't follow your plan at all, the fucking asshole."

He turns to her, slowly. "My plan."

"No, I know that it isn't yours per se but...you wanted things to work out so badly. It pisses me off to see what he did with your ideas."

Her anger is bright in her eyes and Viktor wishes he had more information. He can kind of puzzle a situation together, knowing himself and his wishes for Zaun, and he can only guess how Pididly screwed it up, but he can't be certain.

"I'll try to fix it," that, at least, is as sincere a sentiment as it can get. Vi snorts, good-naturedly, and tugs on his arm until he starts walking again.

"I know, you always say that. It's just... unfair, is all."

The ride down to the Entresol Level is mostly silent. Vi points things out sometimes, and Viktor looks around himself to see if anything has changed. So far he can say that there are less factories, or at least they aren't located in the same places. Hopefully they won't be all in the Sump, but he doesn't dare guess. The streets are cleaner too and there are less augmented people around. Those who are, have most refined and less potentially dangerous mechanisms attached to their bodies.

Then again, not the Sump.

Distracted as he is with taking in the changes he can see, Vi's voice doesn't register until she pinches his arm and Viktor startles.

"What was that for?"

She huffs. "I said we're here," she points at a building not unlike a house, yet bigger. Viktor disentangles his arm from hers and walks towards the main entrance. He hasn't reached the door when it opens and he's looking at Blitzcrank's core, shining blue in the sickly green light.

"Hello!" it says, and Viktor looks up slowly. It looks like it did in the photo. Golden, elegant patterns along its body, streamlined, functional and beautiful.

"I gotta get going," Vi pats his back and Viktor nods, still staring at Blitzcrank. "I'll let Jayce know that you're here, he wanted to come. See ya, nerds."

"Bye, Vi," Blitzcrank waves as she leaves but Viktor still doesn't turn. It looks smaller, but it might be because he isn't used to this design. It also looks down at Viktor and beeps in what he knows means it's trying to figure out how to say something. "Come in."

Viktor follows it inside to what isn't a house, not really. It's mostly a well-equipped workshop in which it can rest when it isn't patrolling Zaun, or whatever function its chosen in this universe. Viktor itches to ask, anxious to know how it's doing, but Blitzcrank beats him to it.

"You look different," its core hums. "Sadder."

Viktor touches its chassis, following the lines and swirls with his still shockingly human fingers.

"Do I?"

"Yes. Can I help you?" Viktor shakes his head. He watches as one of his fingers gets too close to a sharp turn and the anticipation of pain is almost as surprising as waking up in a bed with Jayce.

"It's nothing, Blitzcrank. How have you been? What have you been doing?"

It whirls and sits, holding a hand up for Viktor to do the same on it so he does, looking down at its eyes. The fact that they're even is most unnerving.

"Today I helped a family with a toxic leak in their house and successfully caught a chem-baron. There are many on the loose but not that one anymore."

The pride in its voice makes his chest tighten. Blitzcrank seems to be the same, still helping those in need.

"Are you damaged?"

"No, I am the best model and I never get damaged," Viktor smiles despite himself because of course. He didn't build this Blitzcrank alone. "You are happier now. I am glad."

"Thank you," he says, and Blitzcrank clicks two times. This one is new, but it seems to be its way of saying that it's nothing. Viktor learns this and some new quirks while they talk well into the afternoon about the things that Blitzcrank likes to do or adventures that it's had.  After learning that his being here is only temporary and that Blitzcrank is okay; the situation, albeit serious, doesn't feel so grim.

At least it doesn't until the door opens with a bang and Jayce crosses the threshold.

Viktor looks at him as he approaches them with a light smile and notices that he, too, is different. There's less gravitas in his expression and the way he moves, while still cocky, is mellower. He has crow's feet and grey hair and expression lines and he looks at Viktor like he's happy to see him, which might be the biggest change along with the lack of tension around him. Jayce is relaxed, sure of himself in ways that have less to do with projected bravado and more with what looks like being content.

Viktor aches for him and it's awful.

"You missed lunch," Jayce says as a greeting and Viktor shrugs. "And work. Vi told me. I got us something to eat."

"I had things to do," Viktor watches as Blitzcrank waves at Jayce and Jayce salutes at it. Blitzcrank laughs. "I'll go tomorrow, they'll understand."

Jayce, alarmingly enough, steps his way and crosses his arms over his lap. "You know that Pididly is waiting for any excuse to throw your ass out. Don't give him any."

"I don't care about Pididly," his hands itch with wanting to mess with Jayce's hair. Painfully human now, all too aware of Jayce being close enough to touch, yet he's too overwhelmed with how he's feeling to react. Jayce himself drops his chin on his arms with a snort.

"I know you don't, you ass. Aren't you in an odd little mood today."

"He's sad," Blitzcrank interjects, and Viktor hushes it but it's too late.

"Is he? Why are you sad?"

"I missed you," the words feel torn from inside him, hold too much weight considering that he saw Jayce just that morning. There are years of regrets and sorrow riding on them, and Jayce blinks at him and straightens up. Blitzcrank drops its hand enough for Jayce to hold himself at eye level with his hands on Viktor's thighs, his weight pressing down on his legs.

"I'm here," Jayce whispers, and it's almost too much to handle but Viktor manages to smile.

"So it seems."

Blitzcrank beeps. "He's happier now. Thank you!"

Jayce smirks and Viktor can feel his heart beating in his throat as Jayce grabs his hands.

"You're welcome."

-x-

Blitzcrank is the one to guide them out of its workshop after they eat saying that it's tired, and they go back to Piltover together. Jayce won't stop talking and Viktor listens, almost dazed. For so long this has been denied to him, it won't do him any harm to indulge in it for a while.

He knows that he's lying to himself and that it will do him a lot of harm, even the more so once he goes back and this can't happen anymore, but he'll ignore that for now. He's had a very odd day and he deserves to have at least this much.

Reflecting on that distracts him from what is going to happen once they're home, too.

Viktor doesn't run to the room to keep some of his dignity intact, but he does get changed and under the covers on what is presumably his side of the bed as fast and mechanically as possible. Jayce enters the room not much later, and Viktor glances at him as he quirks an eyebrow his way.

"In a hurry?"

"Just tired."

Then Jayce starts undressing and Viktor, mortified, turns away. He stays buried under the covers until Jayce lifts them up to get in bed himself. He tries giving Jayce his back to avoid contact, but he just throws an arm over his waist and a leg over his.

This would be easier, he reckons, without almost two decades of pent up tension, bottled up feelings and unfinished business. As is, it's an exercise in frustration that has him hyperaware of every point of contact between himself and Jayce. The fact that he's fully human isn't helping either, with how vulnerable and exposed it makes him feel.

It's a nightmare.

It's something that he's wanted for a very long time but has been too riddled with guilt and anger to pursue. An impossibility, being how their friendship was lost. A futile waste of emotions.

"Viktor I can hear you thinking and you aren't being very bright," Jayce's breath graces his neck and he shivers, resigning himself to a night spent awake and hyper focusing on every point of his body in contact with Jayce's.

Viktor wakes with a start when something starts shrieking by his left. The air is awfully clean and he blinks blearily, focusing on almost unfamiliar walls. Covered in pictures. Him and Jayce.

Right.

Jayce grumbles at his neck and tightens an arm around him and Viktor swallows around a lump in his throat.

"I hate that thing and I hate Piltover and I hate engineering," Jayce's voice is rouch with sleep, lazy and low. "Who invented that? Was it you? It was probably you, it's ugly as sin."

Viktor has no idea what he's talking about. Thankfully Jayce peels off his back and it's a bit easier to exist, just as a general state of being. Not so thankfully Jayce feels the need to put the damn thing on his pillow where he can see it. Now Viktor can't know how he thinks in this universe, or what his aesthetic leanings are, but this is certainly not his doing.

"This is not mine," Viktor grumbles, and watches Jayce's hand retrieving it. He turns on his back and observes Jayce as he turns it around, staring at the machine with a frown sitting on the edge of the bed. He's shirtless, his hair is mussed and he's still soft with sleep. Viktor fiddles with the sheets to hold himself from reaching out to him. It wouldn't be right, when he's to leave. And it would be awful to himself, he's aware, to give himself that much for the amount of time he's to be trapped in this reality and then be denied of it forever.

"I think it's Ekko's, actually," Jayce leaves it on his bedside table and before he stands Viktor decides to leave the bed and run too the bathroom before he has to find out if Jayce is fully naked or not.

-x-

Stanwick Pididly hasn't changed a bit, Viktor is both horrified and pleased to see. He's still a dull little man with way too much ego. Not in the way Jayce does, with a hint of self-deprecation and awareness. Pididly exists in his own bubble and so does the rest of the world according to him, and so he has reasoned that he may use Viktor's ideas however he pleases. The ones that the Viktor in that reality has, at least.

His office isn't that different from what he remembers, either. Full of gold, with inventions that Viktor doubts are his occupying most of the space. Everything looks expensive and the desk is placed so the sun is always framing Pididly from behind. It's a disgusting display of power that Viktor loathes, yet there he is. Sitting in front of Pididly as he smiles at Viktor in such a condescending way he's tempted to stand and leave.

"Where were you yesterday?"

Viktor quirks an eyebrow. "Around."

"Around."

"Yes."

Pididly's smile banishes. "Whatever game you're playing, I don't like it. You know why I keep you around, you better behave."

He doesn't know and this presents a hard choice. Let it be or rebel. One of those is going to have awful consequences that he won't be there to live, so he takes a deep breath and lets go.

"I was feeling unwell."

"That's more like it. Make sure to notify the academy the next time it happens, please. Now I'd like to discuss something with you regarding Zaun."

Viktor perks up. "Yes?"

"My suspicions about your plan for the integration of both cities were right, as I told you the other night. It isn't viable and we are going to have to adapt it. Here is the new version," Pididly drops a stack of papers on the table and a piece fits itself into the puzzle that this mess is being. That's why Jayce thought that he was angry, and he should rightfully be if what Vi said is true and his ideas are being used to do more harm than good.

He doubts that there's a reality in which he'd be thrilled about being the poster boy for gentrification, after all, and he grimaces at the thought of how this Viktor would be dealing with the situation.

"I'm sure we can make it work without adapting it, somehow. Jayce could help," Viktor tries that, just in case. Pididly hums as if interested, so there might be hope. "Is it money, infrastructure? We can manage."

Pididly laughs and that little sliver of hope is crushed. "Oh no, no, no. That's not it at all. You know how politics work, Viktor. Good grief, one would think you're new. Baby steps, remember? The zaunite district has been a big enough step, believe it or not."

"The ghetto, you mean," Pididly's expression changes ever so subtly. The friendliness that he projected is all but gone. Viktor holds his breath.

"We have had this conversation before and I am not going to have it again," he drawls, and Viktor huffs. "I have tried to..."

"Doesn't look like you have tried hard enough," he interjects, feeling bold and with purpose, but Pididly only glowers and sighs.

"Viktor,  you just need to be patient."

Does the other Viktor deal with this every single day? Vi did mention that he said that he'd try to fix the situation often. It's so frustrating, and he's only tried that one time. That Viktor seems to be so happy too, and he can't comprehend how when a problem like this one remains unsolved in his life.

But maybe, he reasons, maybe he'd understand with time. This Viktor has been dealing with this for years as far as he knows. Maybe what Pididly called a district was enough of a breakthrough for him to be content, even if not satisfied, in having had advanced a little in helping Zaun in any way he could. Now he can try and help that Viktor by keeping things steady and reasonable or he can fuck his life up by making him lose his job. Which, if he's anything like himself, he won't be very fond of if Pididly is involved. Yet it's not his decision to make.

The only thing he can do is try to smooth things over and apply enough pressure to make his demands known without breaking character.

"Fine. I will try, but this could be the last straw," there's nothing to back that affirmation up but it seems to work judging by Pididly's little nod. "Can I leave now?"

Pididly waves his hand in the direction of the door instead of talking and Viktor stands and makes for the door, noticing only once he's left that he has no idea where he's supposed to go to start working.   

"Oh, Viktor," someone says and Viktor turns to find a young man waving. He's blond, probably older than Ekko but he can't be sure. "How's it going?"

The man keeps walking and Viktor figures that following him won't do harm.

"Can't complain," he says, going for something neutral, and the man snorts.

"Right. That's the first time I've ever heard you say that," the man smirks and Viktor finds that he likes that the version of him that exists in that reality has enough fighting spirit in him to vocalize all the bullshit he has to go through.

He's also rather weirded out by how many friends he has. More than one is a high number by his standards.

"Did Pididly tell you about the golem project?" no idea, so he shakes his head and hopes for the best. "Better that way, trust me. I can't believe that he's still trying to recreate Blitzcrank. How long did it take Jayce and you to make him? Around five years? And that's with the crystal I lent you, I can't even imagine how long it would have taken without that."

No idea, either. "I think so, yes."

Blitzcrank didn't take him all that long to make, but maybe with Jayce involved they'd get into byzantine discussions and slow their work down. The man doesn't take notice of his hesitation in any case and he stops in front of a door that Viktor has never seen before in his life. This building isn't unlike the academy that he attended when he was younger, but it is bigger and this area is a mystery to him.

"Well this is you and I'll be going to my lab and see if I can get rid of some radiation. Don't worry about it, nothing too bad."

Viktor doubts that any amount of radiation can be considered any less than too bad, but he doesn't comment. He nods, and the man nods back and leaves, and he feels only marginally guilty for not asking his name.

Is still thinking about it once the doorknob turns without need of a key and he's inside what's apparently his lab in Piltover's Academy. He's, technically, fulfilling his teenage dreams and yet he's too preoccupied with feeling bad about some stranger to enjoy it. Emotions are a nuisance and being so completely human is messing him up.

But his laboratory is great, he has to admit. It's spacious and well equipped, and he can recognize himself as well as a complete stranger in it. He walks around it, checking tables and cupboards and chairs, and finds a myriad of books on transhumanism, ethics, robotics. Those he expected. The ones on time and space, those are new. And the more numerous. There are also loads of notebooks and loose papers loitering the room and his own handwriting is at a time familiar and foreign. He reads words that could've come straight out of his mouth, and then grabs another paper to find the thoughts of someone that he doesn't know.

It's fascinating and he spends hours getting to know the man that the other Viktor is.

This Viktor is chaotic, writes down whatever he needs in the nearest available surface, and his ideas while not altogether different than his own aren't tainted by the bitterness that Viktor feels. He has embraced the tragedy of his own emotions and writes about them often as one would do Philosophy, short essays scattered all over sharing space with a surprising amount of theories on time that he works with. To Viktor, who knows close to nothing about the subject, reading his own thoughts on it makes it easier to follow and understand. That Viktor also possesses a great sentimentality that almost makes him cringe, or would have if he didn't understand how easy it would have been for him to be alone. He keeps odd trinkets of every little thing he thinks important. Pictures, what Viktor thinks is one of the same screws used to build their Blitzcrank, a single glove that judging by size must be Jayce's. He refuses to leave his life out of his lab and in some ways Viktor can relate.

He's fascinated, sitting on the floor as he looks through a box full of papers, when he finds Blitzcrank's blueprints. Some versions of them, at least. Viktor studies them with care, reading the annotations and wondering how far from the final model this version was. They're pretty much concise and to the point, written down in the other Viktor's spidery handwriting. Until they're not, and what he recognizes easily as Jayce's writing can be read in a corner.

_You can't do this alone._

And under that, in what looks more like his own writing than most scribbles, the words " _Says who"._

-x-

Viktor leaves the academy to eat, something vile that a street vendor sells him but that will keep him alive, and doesn't come back. He's emotionally exhausted enough without a second round with that lab, he mostly wants to go back home and rest. Yet he has no home, not really, unless he's willing to start calling the place he shares with Jayce that. Which he might as well, at least to simplify things.

So he goes home and doesn't bother changing before falling face first on the bed.

Jayce's voice wakes him an indefinite amount of time later.

"Viktor, can you hear me? What is up with you?" Jayce sounds close, and Viktor turns his head with a groan and cracks an eye open to see that he's sitting by him on the bed. All their interactions take place there and maybe a change of scenario would help him. With what is a mystery to him. "There you are. Something going on?"

It is very odd to hear Jayce being worried. "Want to go for a walk?"

Jayce puts a hand on Viktor's forehead and there he is, full on theatrics.

"Who are you? What have you done with Viktor?"

That is less funny if only because it gets too close to the truth, so Viktor swats at Jayce's hand until he drops it and sits up.

"I don't know but I'll do the same to you," Jayce snorts and Viktor makes to stand but Jayce grabs his wrist and stops him. Good to know that he's annoying in every reality. "What?"

Jayce kisses him. It's a sweet, short, thing that makes Viktor's heart ache.

"What's going on," Jayce says, and Viktor would like to say that nothing's going on but he looks way too earnest to lie to him. And what can he tell him, this version of Jayce that apparently checked on his blueprints and wrote stupid shit on them just so he wouldn't build a sentient golem alone. This Jayce that instead of letting Pididly steal the only good thing he's ever made took a step forward and built it with him. Who is he, and why did he do that, and how did they end up together and happy instead of almost killing each other.

All those are things he can't say.

"I've been thinking about Blitzcrank," so he settles for what feels most like the truth yet less risky, and Jayce's worry softens as he exhales and drops his forehead on Viktor's shoulder with a snort.

"Again?" Jayce grabs his hands, presses with his fingers around the joints. "What about it now?"

"We built it."

Jayce hums against his neck and Viktor shivers.

"Have you ever thought of what could have happened if we hadn't?"

"You've asked me that before," Jayce caresses his arms up to his elbows over the clothes. Viktor drops a hand on Jayce's knee and that's all he'll allow himself to get. "You would have built it anyway, because of course you would, and I would have thrown a tantrum, because of course I would, and we would have angry fucked somewhere, because of course we would."

Viktor isn't strong enough to contain the impulse to slap Jayce's knee.

"Why so scandalized? I was so into you by then that Blitzcrank was probably just an excuse to flirt," he drops a kiss on Viktor's jaw and laughs, tapping his fingers on the crook of his elbows. "What do you think would have happened?"

Jayce leans back and looks at him and Viktor finds the situation incredibly ridiculous but he only has himself to blame for it.

"I would have built it and Pididly would have stolen credit and you would have refused to back me up, and that would have shattered our friendship and this," he makes a vague gesture between them as Jayce grimaces. "Would have never happened because we would have ended up hating each other."

"I'd let you know," Jayce says, catching his gaze and holding it steady. "That that is very unlikely. I am also offended that you would mention Stanwick Pididly while having me here in bed. How dare you. I should kick you out of this house."

And this is ridiculous, that he's been cursed with loving Jayce across realities, but it's what it is and he doesn't see a reason to fight it, not then. Viktor laughs, the sound alien to him, and for once in his life lets his emotions carry him as he throws his arms around Jayce and buries his head against his neck. Jayce doesn't hesitate, and it's a wonder how simple it all is. He just hugs Viktor by the waist and stays with him and for a moment he doesn't worry about much. Once they part, Jayce smiling at him and then standing to go look for something, Viktor lets himself relax for at least that night and drops back on the bed.

He closes his eyes.

-x-

_Pididly approaches Jayce as he works, the heat from the welder almost too much to bear._

_He says that Viktor's building something, down in Zaun._

_That it might be what makes Jayce have to leave the academy._

_He isn't up to par with someone who can build a sentient golem, he says._

_But maybe they could make a deal._

_Jayce looks up from his workbench, holds his welding helmet up._

_Pididly offers him a hand._

_Jayce glances at it._

_Lets the helmet drop back over his face._

_And keeps on working._

_Until Pididly suggests that he should leave._


	2. Chapter 2

Viktor blinks.

He's sure that he fell asleep sometime last night, still in his clothes while Jayce roamed around the house looking for what he called his lucky glove.

But he doesn't wake up.

Viktor blinks and he's back on a roof in Zaun, trapped and with Ekko staring at him as he had been two days ago.

Ekko blinks back, puzzled. "What the fuck. Did you do that?"

Viktor is still too disoriented to even know what he's referring to. Not that long ago he was in a bed, almost coming to terms with the idea that somewhere out there there is a reality in which things didn't turn out wrong. And now he's right where he left off and the whiplash is making his head spin. He can barely stand, as it is, answering questions might be too much of a challenge.

He tries. "Did I do what, exactly?"

"I don't know, man. The pull on time. Was that you?"

"I wouldn't say that it was me, per se," it wasn't too long, but it's good not having to think of himself as two different entities inhabiting the same universe. Simplifies things. "You fell and I tried to catch you, but got caught in your machine's trail."

Ekko's eyes widen. "It's never happened before. How was it?"

Viktor, still confused but getting grounded, laughs. "Interesting."

-x-

Interesting or not, it was also exhausting and Ekko finds the event fascinating enough to let him go with the promise to tell him everything as soon as he's gotten some rest.

It's incredible, that he would miss Zaun's smog. Yet its familiarity is calming and Viktor's thankful for it while he walks back to his lab. He tries not to think on the way there, aware of the fact that he will probably do that extensively during the days to come, and once he's under his own roof his weariness catches up to him and he drags himself to his room as fast as his feet would take him.

It's not very fast.

He wakes the next day; or maybe that same night or morning or afternoon, time seems vaporous and capricious to him then, with his mask still on and his cape draped around him in a ridiculous tangle of limbs and fabric but he doesn't care about as much as he expected. His brain, on the other hand, cares a lot about the jarring feeling of waking to a completely different environment than the two days prior and it's freaking out. Quietly, almost like a background noise to his consciousness, but its confusion keeps him in bed more time than he'd like.

Viktor understands that it's expected to experience some sort of period of adaptation after not only traversing through time, but realities. It's not like he has any point of reference for that. So he lays there, staring at his own ceiling finally having gotten rid of his mask, until the vague sense of unreality fades. He should be thankful that the glimpse was short, at least, and he has to adapt to two days out of his own reality and not a month. Or years. Or even decades. Then again, the changes were substantial enough to leave a lasting impression and it bothers him that after only two mornings waking up to Jayce he finds himself missing him.

There is an easy way to explain that, of course. It's more about his own wistful thinking and repressed fantasies than the fact itself. Something that he has wanted for so long is meant to affect him, and he's at least glad that he didn't let himself interact with Jayce too much in that universe. Domestic bliss seen from afar is better for him now than the full experience hands on, no matter how badly he might be dealing with the brief moments of intimacy they shared.

So that happened, huh. It was certainly real, although a tiny voice in his head that sounds a lot like Jayce inquires about the nature of reality, since Ekko asked about it once he was back. Ekko, who will be coming around to his lab at some point in the near future. Again, time seems like a triviality to him. He could come in a minute or in an hour and it would all be the same to Viktor. This Viktor, the only Viktor that he has to be concerned about in this particular reality.

The one that's sad, or so that other Blitzcrank thinks.

It's not like that other Viktor's life was perfect. He was under Pididly's thumb and his life was full of a professional frustration that he considers himself lucky to have only experienced briefly. And that can't be the only thing that isn't ideal in his life, he's sure. Yet he seemed happy, or somewhat content, with how things were going. He had friends, he had a home, he had made some marginal changes to how things in Zaun had been going, he had accepted his own emotions, he was human. Somehow so different from him it's almost impossible to see that other Viktor as the same person that he is. Probably because he isn't.

Viktor can hear the main door of his lab opening with a bang and quirks an eyebrow as he leans up on his elbows.

"Where the hell are you?" Ekko yells from the entrance, and Viktor huffs and rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands.

-x-

"And what was the other Ekko like?"

Viktor smiles, if only because Ekko won't see it with the mask, sitting on his workbench.

"Smart. Seemed to act as a guardian for some kids. The other Viktor taught him Physics, things regarding time and space," Ekko, slouched on a chair by Viktor's workbench, whistles.

"And he lived in Piltover? With Vi?"

"She said that he was her brother, adoptive I presume."

"That's so cool," Ekko kicks his feet up and rests them on the workbench and Viktor has done that himself enough times to allow it. "She's nice, used to help us before she left. Still hangs around sometimes. Her girlfriend doesn't like to come down, though."

Her girlfriend the sheriff of Piltover, he means.

"I can't imagine why."

Ekko snorts. "You're funny, you know? What's up with all those rumors about you dismembering children?"

Viktor shrugs. "They're lies."

"Huh. Could've fooled me with the mask," he points at it and Viktor huffs but refuses to answer. "Anyway, so that Ekko can feel time pulling you back here and tells you. I felt that too, kinda. Like time spitting you out. It was super gross."

Viktor grimaces. "I can imagine. It feels kind of..." he pauses, Ekko is looking at him and the knowing smirk is incentive enough. "Super gross, jumping between realities."

Then there's an awkward silence that Viktor honestly doesn't know how to fill and didn't expect.

"Did you like that reality better?"

Viktor looks down at Ekko, who's already looking at him. His eyes are harder than he's ever seen, even more than when they fought. Then again, he was having fun that time.

"Not necessarily," he starts, and he's aware that he needs to choose his words carefully. This is as much an answer to Ekko's question to one he hasn't had the time to ask himself. "That Viktor seemed happier, and that much would be foolish of me to deny. His life was fuller than mine, and though I do not resent him it's hard to live in this reality now knowing what could have been."

"That isn't an answer."

Out of all the kids in Zaun, it has to be the clever ones that knock on his door.

"If I am to be fully honest, I think that I would grow tired of that reality and the frustrations that the other Viktor faced. So no, I don't like it better."

"But do you like this one?"

"No, I don't like this one."

"Are you happy?"

"Is anyone?"

Ekko rolls his eyes and throws a screw at him. It bounces off his mask to the floor.

"But you could be, right? Come on, man. My life was shit and I built a time machine. It's still shit but hey, it could be less shit. It has potential now. So what are you gonna do with yours?"

If having a glimpse into another reality didn't work, getting lectured by a child had to be an eye-opening experience intense enough on itself. Viktor would have been pondering on that if Ekko himself hadn't appeared. Or maybe not.

Maybe he would have swept it all under the rug and kept on living his miserable life trying to forget about Jayce as if nothing had happened. Both outcomes, reflection or ignorance, are likely. Being pressed for an answer, the siren call of what ifs is too strong.

"I might try to change some things, yet happiness might not be an outcome."

"But you're close enough, yeah?"

Viktor doesn't see why Ekko would ever care about that, but he relents with a nod and the wave of a hand.

"Yes."

-x-

It's been a week since he returned and despite what he told Ekko he hasn't done much to change his life yet. Habits are hard to break and he's had years to get accustomed to brooding and being miserable while cursing emotions all the while. But enough is enough, and he won't set himself for great victories such as achieving domestic bliss with Jayce but he will at least try to have small things. Like conversations with Blitzcrank, that have always been soothing but sparse.

He finds it that day in the Promenade level, holding a girl with bright blue hair by the waist and surrounded by bystanders. It's not Viktor's preferred way of showing himself, in plain daylight and full armor as Blitzcrank detains someone, but the contrast in design between this Blitzcrank and the other one tugs at his heartstrings and keeps him from leaving.

The girl is screaming and hitting Blitzcrank hard enough that he's worried she'll crack bone, so Viktor approaches and once Blitzcrank spots him it raises its other hand in warning.

"Careful, she is very dangerous."

Viktor quirks an eyebrow at the kid, but says nothing.

She spits at his feet and bites at Blitzcrank's hand.

"Who is she?"

"A delinquent. Was trying to board the elevator with explosives. It is forbidden, I stopped her. I am bringing her to Caitlyn, she will know what to do."

"No!" she says.

"Yes," Blitzcrank answers. Viktor smiles. "I confiscated the explosives and the weapons."

Viktor hums and pats the hand that Blitzcrank still has up with his third arm. Blitzcrank whirs. It's design is so crude, he rushed so much when making it. And he was so angry at the way that golems were being made. At least he knows that, even if made with more time, the changes to it  would be trivial.

"Not all the explosives," the girl interjects, and Viktor doesn't have time to stop her before she beams at him, wiggles an arm free, and throws what looks like a crystal orb the crowd's way. Blitzcrank makes to catch it but it's too far and Viktor runs there giving himself no chance to think about it.

It's small enough that it fits in his hand when he raises an arm to grab it and then he's on his back on the floor holding the thing as far away from his body as he can. He's breathing hard and there are whispers among the crowd and his heart is beating in his ears and it could've been water for all he knows but it doesn't matter.

He lifts his head to see that the girl is still in Blitzcrank's custody. Good.

"Are you okay, Viktor?" Blitzcrank says, and Viktor hums as he stands taking care to hold the thing with as much delicacy as he possesses. People around them are still talking and it's unnerving.

"Yes, I'm fine. You better take her before she throws another one," Blitzcrank beeps and turns. Viktor can hear the girl going off at it. And him. Doesn't matter, let her vent. He has to go back home and figure out what she threw and, more urgently, get away from all that people. Some of them are part of that awful cult someone started around him, although thankfully most of them seem to only know him as that mad scientist down in the Sump and he manages to avoid interaction by bringing up the matter of holding a yet unknown material that might be explosive.

Which it is.

Highly explosive. Could have blown the crowd, himself, Blitzcrank and the girl up to smithereens. The composition is volatile and unstable and it's a wonder that he has reached his laboratory in one piece. He doubts that the girl made it, and looking carefully at the container he finds that it was in fact made by Ziggs. Who shouldn't be handing explosives out, but Viktor has no faith in how coherent that yordle can be in a good day.

"What's that?" someone says, behind him, and Viktor almost drops the thing. Even the container falling could proof disastrous and he leaves it gently on his workbench before turning and finding himself face to face with Vi. Her hair is shorter in this reality and she has her gauntlets equipped. Rather unnecessary, considering that Viktor is in no rush to escape or opposing resistance, but not much he can do about it.

"How did you get in here?" he asks, instead of answering, and she blows a strand of hair out of her face and shrugs.

"You left your front door open," likely, so he won't comment. "So what's that?"

"An explosive."

"Ah. You made that?" he has a feeling she already knows the answer.

"No. Ziggs made it and then handed it out to a child for reasons that I cannot fathom. Blitzcrank took her to Piltover, or so he told me."

"Yeah, Caitlyn's with her. She sent me down to question you."

Viktor quirks an eyebrow. "Question me."

"Hey, am just following orders. I would like to know what the fuck was up with you back there, though."

Vi and him, they don't know each other much. He knows that she's zaunite and that she has lived a hard life, has recently moved to Piltover and joined Caitlyn as a law enforcer. So having her there should always be bad news. She also has had contact with the kids that roam around Viktor's lab, and he's pretty sure that Naph talks to her regularly. About what, is a mystery to him. He'd rather not find out. So Vi making assumptions about his character is, dare he say, rather rude.

"I have never hurt people deliberately so I don't see where your surprise is coming from,"

Vi huffs. "No, you idiot. Not that. The public display of heroism is what I mean. Weren't you a discreet do-gooder? This has sent your Evil Soulless Machine Herald cover to shit."

"So you're suggesting I let all the onlookers die, and probably me and Blitzcrank and that girl too, to keep my image intact?"

"Fuck, you're so difficult. No, I'm just curious. You're never out at that time of the day or that far up. I have to know 'cause you're on our watch list. Sorry."

He shrugs. It's to be expected. "That isn't important. I wanted to see how Blitzcrank was doing."

"Pretty good," she says, and then her expression changes into one of utter misery as she groans. "Oh shit, the Jaycer can never find out about this."

Viktor is rather mad at himself when the mere mention of Jayce makes his breath hitch.

"Why not?"

"Why not, he says," she starts, and Viktor watches as she turns her back on him then turns again to point at him with an enormous mechanical finger. "Do you even know how insufferable he gets when talking about how evil you are?"

"I can imagine."

"It's awful. He's been a pest to everyone around him. Did you know that he knew when you'd attack and he stayed in his stupid workshop waiting for it like an idiot just to prove a point?"

Viktor tries not to snort but it's being hard.

"That does sound like something he would do."

"Yeah, it does. Anyway, he's going to flip his entire shit when he finds out. He's gonna...I don't know, he'll probably come to my house and brood and then complain about everything and then cry."

Viktor does snort, then, and Vi looks at him with her eyebrows arched.

"Oh no you don't get to laugh about this, you asshole. This is your fault for being a good person behind those squinty evil eyes. Did you fucking build yourself abs? Why am I surrounded by fucking nerds all the time? I hate this."

Her rambling is entertaining, he has to admit, even though he has no idea what to do with the information on Jayce she gave him. It implies that, in a way, Jayce cares. About him or rather about his evil-doings. It isn't sitting well with Viktor just yet, the idea that this Jayce doesn't only blatantly hate him, because it gives him the tiniest sliver of hope and hope is a dangerous thing. So he dodges the topic, or tries at least.

"Weren't you here to question me?"

"Oh, yeah. Yes," she sobers up, and Viktor can see why Caitlyn employed her. She's imposing, and it's not only because of the gauntlets. "Did you know that the girl Blitzcrank detained has a personal vendetta against me?"

"How could I? I don't know who she is."

"Right. So that's it. You have nothing else to do with it. Am gonna have to take the thing she threw."

"Afraid I already threw away the explosive, you can have the container. But it is still dangerous."

"Cool," she raises an arm up to her face and presses something with her nose. There's a hiss, some vapor, and her left gauntlet's on the floor. "I'll be careful, treat it like my very own baby. Promise."

Viktor recognizes the gauntlet once it's on the floor as a golem hand. Those are pretty heavy. He would know, he's had to carry some for Blitzcrank.

"I could help you if those hurt," he points at the gauntlet with his chin as he hands her the flask but Vi only smiles and shakes her head.

"Don't think your way fits me, dude," he nods, since insisting won't change her mind and it isn't his priority. If she decides that he can help, he will. "But thanks, I guess. You ain't half bad, guess I'll drop by again."

She grabs the gauntlet with her free hand and struts out of the room without another word.

-x-

There's been a spill of toxic waste in Piltover and Viktor has accompanied Blitzcrank to check it out. It's rare enough that it happens there, instead of somewhere down in Zaun, for his curiosity to be piqued and since talking to Ekko after the glimpse he feels like doing more to help in any way he can, as that's as close to a satisfactory change that he can get. Once they get there, it appears that something has gone wrong in one of the academy's adjacent laboratories and the whole room is covered in a shiny blue residue. He counts eleven students gathered outside, and with them is none other than Jayce.

Viktor expected his first encounter with him after the glimpse to be tinged with nostalgia and bitterness yet he feels oddly detached as he approaches with Blitzcrank, observing how he talks to the students while bandaging a young woman's arm. He hasn't noticed Viktor yet and his expression is as relaxed as it's gonna get after a toxic waste spill, his posture confident. He does look ruffled, hair messy and clothes slightly out of place, but that isn't strange after something like that.

"Hello!" Blitzcrank says, and Jayce turns to it with a smile that dies as soon as he spots Viktor standing by its side. Viktor waves nonetheless. "We heard that there was a toxic waste spill and came over as fast as we could. How can we help you?"

"Well, he could leave," Jayce answers, and Blitzcrank makes a very loud clanking sound that makes some of the students jump. Viktor, amused, pats its side and steps forward.

"Jayce," he starts, and Jayce turns to him with a frown. And there it is, the emotion that he expected but not exactly nostalgia nor bitterness. It's a dull ache in his chest, familiarity and a sort of muted longing. The other Jayce was a novelty, affectionate and tender as he was, but he finds that he's missed this one deeply. Not only while in the glimpse, but generally. "I did come here to help."

Jayce huffs. "Of course, I've heard all about your heroic deeds. What's it gonna be, today? No mechanical minotaurs with you? That's odd."

Arrogant, unbearable, tense. Viktor sighs and looks to the side to see how the students are faring but they seem more interested in what they're talking about than their own wounds.

"I take it you didn't dismantle it to see how it worked once you neutralized it, then?" Jayce rolls his eyes. "We are here to help. This is as clear a peace offering I can give, take it or leave it."

"I will start cleaning," Blitzcrank says, already walking by them, and the students stare at it in awe. Viktor understands. It has fixed itself to the point of being a technological marvel, they wouldn't be worthy of Piltover academy if they weren't interested.

Jayce, on the other hand, won't stop glaring at him.

"How can I know that I can trust you?"

Viktor shrugs. "You can't know."

Jayce takes a deep breath and then exhales and seems to deflate. He gives his back to Viktor, tending to the students, and Viktor takes that as his cue to join him with checking on them. As far as he can see, they're all fine. Nothing too alarming, mostly superficial burns and bizarre stories about explosions. Jayce doesn't talk to him during the time it takes them to see if anyone's badly injured, and so Viktor does the same. But once they're done, Jayce grabs him by the wrist and drags him far enough for Blitzcrank and the student to be unable to hear.

The touch is as unexpected as it's frustrating, but it's gone soon enough and Viktor crosses his arms as he waits for Jayce to stop frowning at him and start talking.

"What are you plotting?"

"Nothing."

Jayce groans. "Please, Viktor, we are both smart enough to know that you are lying. First you come up with some very public display of heroism and now you help Piltover for what reason? Revenge? Making me trust you? Some twisted sense of fulfillment?"

He's so frustrating, has always been. He needs to understand things, and he specially needs to understand why Viktor does the things he does since most of the time Viktor's reasoning makes absolutely no sense to him. Viktor assumes that telling him that he travelled to a reality in which things were different and that kind of changed his outlook on life won't help matters, so better to leave that out of the conversation.

"I keep having to ask when I have hurt anyone deliberately. Besides you, after you raided my laboratory while I was trying to save hundreds of lives."

"There are rumors," Jayce answers and Viktor's thankful for his mask hiding exactly how exasperated he is. "About how you do things, and how you force people to change themselves. You expect me to question them after what you said about free will?"

"Yes," he says, and Jayce grunts. "If I ever expected anyone to question those rumors it'd be you, since there's nobody who knows me better."

Jayce turns his back on him and Viktor thinks that he's dragging his hands down his face but can't be sure. His hands are at his sides when he turns back and he looks tired. Viktor feels a pang of sympathy.

"Let's say, hypothetically speaking, that I believe you. If you aren't plotting anything, then why are you here in Piltover?"

"I came to help," Viktor says, slowly. "I've had some time to think about myself and decided that I wanted to help, that's all."

"And what about your glorious evolution or whatever?"

"Emotions are a nuisance and I resent them but I cannot force anyone into something they don't want. That counts for that discussion on free will you so love to mention, too, since the divers would have been consulted. Not that you cared back then as you were ratting me out."

Viktor has never considered himself petty, or at least not much, but having things out in the open doesn't feel too bad. It makes Jayce look at him with more astonishment than fury, which is nice for a change.

"Fine. Okay. I still don't trust you," Jayce starts walking towards the students again and Viktor follows, amused but mostly relieved that this ridiculous questioning is over. "But I won't stop you if you want to do good."

They don't speak anymore that day, not between them. Jayce talks to Blitzcrank and so does Viktor, and they both talk to the students occasionally while the building is getting fixed but they keep dancing around each other. It's awkward, but Viktor wasn't hoping for more. Even Jayce being there had been a surprise, too good to be true, and he doesn't feel like pushing his luck. So when Blitzcrank announces that he's done, he only throws a glance Jayce's way and catches him looking but doesn't say a word before leaving.

-x-

"What have you done," Vi says, as she helps him move a pile of debris from a collapsed building down in the Entresol level, and Viktor has no idea what she's talking about. "Jayce won't stop pestering me about you."

It's been almost a month since the toxic spill in Piltover and Viktor has seen Jayce twice more, both times during spills. Their conversation has been close to inexistent and in any case stilted and awkward. Jayce is still cautious around him, but Viktor isn't about to call him out on that.

Vi has been visiting from time to time and so has Ekko and he has found himself thinking about them as friends. Ekko is more like a pupil of sorts, but they are good company and they help him, talk to him, and trust him. It's an odd and novel feeling that he can't say that he dislikes completely.

"I talked to him last month, have seen him a couple of times after that," Vi groans and sits on a pile of rocks. Viktor stands in front of her. "It wasn't that important."

"Oh maybe not to you but he's crumbling down, Viktor. He's dying. He's a mess. My dearest Jaycerino doesn't know what to do if he can't think of you as evil, it's a real tragedy," she rolls her eyes and Viktor laughs. "I keep telling him that he should just talk to you but he gets all scandalized."

"I won't go up there to talk to him if that's what you are trying to get at."

She huffs. "No, I'm just complaining because he's driving me nuts. You've done enough as it is, making him be self-aware. Fuck. Couldn't you pretend that you're super bad or something?"

"I could have," he answers, and Vi sighs wistfully. "But then he would've been talking to you about how evil I am."

"Damn it you're right," she gets up with a groan and looks over at the ruins. "You know who lived here?"

"It was empty. The family who lived here moved years ago, the building was too unstable to inhabit.

Vi glances his way and Viktor looks at her profile. She purses her lips.

"I think it's good that Jayce's thinking about it," she says, almost too quietly to hear. "But if he doesn't do something soon I'm gonna punch his ass down to the Sump."

Viktor hums. "That's a thought."

-x-

Jayce's resolve seems to crumble a week after that, which is when Viktor finds him loitering around his lab. Viktor walks to where he's standing, looking at one of his automatons with his eyebrows pinched together.

"Should I alert the authorities?" Viktor says, and Jayce jumps and turns to look at him in bewildered shock. "I am not fond of trespassers."

"I'm not trespassing," answers Jayce, and then he smirks and Viktor's heart skips a beat. "Yet."

"It's not trespassing if I invite you in," he points at the open door to his lab. "I assume you have something to talk about, or you wouldn't be here."

"Maybe I came to steal your guarding automatons."

"They weight around three hundred pounds. Good luck," he turns as he speaks and makes for his lab. Jayce follows, closing the door behind him. Once inside, he contains the impulse to check if Jayce is looking around or not in favor of walking straight to his workroom and sitting on the workbench, leaving the chair for Jayce.

He stays standing.

"Why are you here?"

"We need to talk," Viktor snorts. Jayce huffs. "Vi says that I need to sort myself out before I drive her mad and so I've come, and we're gonna talk, and you're gonna take that mask off and stop being difficult and disconcerting."

He's tempted to say no only to rile Jayce up, but knowing him he would just turn and leave and for once Viktor wants this for himself. Friends, people to talk to, someone that he lost long ago and has wanted back with such intensity it hurt him. He remembers the way Jayce talked to him in the glimpse, how he touched him as if it was easy and simple, and he regrets letting him for how painful it is to see Jayce standing so far away now.

Right, the mask. That needs to go so he reaches up and unclasps it, letting it drop by his thigh on the workbench. For a second it looks like Jayce is going to get closer, but he stays put. Viktor sighs.

"There you go."

Jayce's breathing is unsteady, he hadn't noticed before. His eyes are darting over his face going from one feature to another lightning fast and Viktor grips the edge of the workbench with his still human hand to avoid hiding again.

"It's been so long," Jayce says, almost a whisper, and he does get closer then. He's barely a step away, Viktor could reach out and touch him. "I forgot how you looked like."

Jayce looks like he has a lot to say but doesn't know how. Viktor wonders what expression he himself is making and if it's betraying him as much as he feels it is.

"What do you want to talk about?" he asks, and is thankful that his voice sounds more controlled than he feels.

"I was an asshole," Viktor's lips twitch and he hates himself for almost smiling. "I am an asshole. I know that. I...can't shake the feeling that everything was my fault."

"Haven't you been blaming me for years?"

"Yeah. I mean, it was easier. You do fit the mad scientist archetype quite nicely," Jayce looks less shaken now, a bit more in control, but still kind of lost. Viktor can relate. Not even after the glimpse and thinking about how to change things would have he thought that a conversation with Jayce would've been possible. "But I...I was young, and I was stupid. And you were young and stupid. And we overreacted."

Jayce keeps rambling on and on and it hits Viktor, then, that this could be incredibly easy. Hit or miss. Probably miss. Either way, it'd be fast.

"I love you," he says, and Jayce stops talking. "I've loved you for a while. I hated you, too, but some things have happened and I'm tired of that."

"You love me."

"Yes," Jayce takes another step closer.

"And why are you even telling me?"

"For the past weeks I've felt so intensely that once you started rambling I was so emotionally exhausted that it was either this or a quick surgery to turn me into an unfeeling being."

Jayce, surprisingly enough, laughs as he ever so slowly grabs Viktor's hands. Hesitantly, as if Viktor's going to rebuff him after telling him straight that he loves him.

"You're always emotionally exhausted. What was it you said about mechanical hearts?"

Viktor though, isn't paying much attention. He's marveling at the wonder that are his fingers, both mechanical and organic, between Jayce's. Something that he thought impossible for him, lost. He looks up, and Jayce looks equally bewildered but he's smiling.

"I missed you," Jayce says, and Viktor is reminded of that first afternoon in the glimpse, looking down at that other Jayce and saying those exact same words. "I missed you so much, you don't even know."

"Oh trust me," he frees his organic hand and watches as it sinks in Jayce's hair, heart beating in his throat, afraid that Ekko's going to enter the lab informing him that this is yet another different  reality. "I know."

-x-

"Nope, this is the original reality. Yours, at least," Ekko says the next day, sitting cross-legged on Viktor's workbench as he eats an apple. "Why are you asking? Anything happened?"

"You could say that," he answers, and Vi chooses that moment to enter the room, not long before Jayce struts in. Ekko looks at them while Vi sits on the chair by Ekko's side and Jayce stands by Viktor's.

Vi looks at Viktor. Stares. Fixedly. Then at Jayce.

"Ah," she says. And nothing else.

"So you made up," asks Ekko, and Viktor nods while Jayce frowns down at Vi.

"Since when do you come here."

"Since none of your business," Vi flips him off and Ekko snorts. "Since when do _you_ come here? Weren't you freaking out about Viktor not being evil like two seconds ago?"

"Since none of your business," mocks Jayce, throwing an arm over Viktor's shoulders, and Viktor is at the same time overwhelmed and profoundly content as he feels the weight of Jayce's arm and looks at Vi and Ekko with a smile.

His life is far from perfect, he knows. His reality is in no way like the one in the glimpse. Zaun still needs all the help it can get, he's a pariah and a cardboard villain to most, Jayce and him have a long way to go and he can already see that it will be hard.

This is still as close to happy as he's ever gotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I published the first part once everything was done full of doubts regarding this part. Which might have been a mistake but hey. The choice regarding where to go with the ending wasn't an easy one. I could either go full tragedy or just romcom it. Being that things are tragic enough in the lore and life, I decided to romcom it. After writing it, I thought that maybe it was too cheesy but the day after I went to watch Mamma Mia 2 and maybe cheesy is fine, you know? 
> 
> Hoped you enjoyed it, it was super fun to write and discuss temporal paradoxes with myself and Nad.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song I Miss You and summary from the song Space & Time, both by AJJ. They dropped an album right when I was in the middle of the writing process and fucking obliterated me.
> 
> I was originally planning to make the glimpse longer, but Viktor had suffered enough. Let him be.


End file.
